(TibetanReview.net, Jun14’24) — A bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers led by Republican Representative Michael McCaul and including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to visit Dharamshala and meet with Tibet’s exile spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in the coming days, reported Reuters Jun 13, citing the exile Tibetan government at Dharamshala, India.
The visit will take place over Jun 18-19, the report said, citing an official of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), which is effectively the Tibetan government in exile.
However, while McCaul’s office did not respond immediately to a request for comment, Pelosi’s office said it could not confirm or deny any upcoming travel due to longstanding security policies, the report noted.
The delegation’s visit will come days ahead of the Dalai Lama’s planned trip to the US for medical treatment on his knees. For this reason, his office earlier announced on Jun 3 that no engagements, including public audiences, will be scheduled with him from Jun 20 onwards until further notice.
The delegation’s visit also comes days after the US House of Representatives gave its final approval on Jun 12 to the Senate amended “Resolve Tibet Act” bill, which for the first time in any country’s history will adopt the position that the legal status of Tibet remains to be resolved under international law.
The Act, once it is signed by President Joe Biden, will require active US involvement in helping to achieve a negotiated settlement of the issue.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman McCaul is an original sponsor of the bill.
What is also noteworthy is that the Dalai Lama turns 89 on Jul 6 and the visit coming ahead of his birthday is also demonstrative of his long and warm relations with global leaders, especially Pelosi, who enjoys a personal rapport with the spiritual leader and has visited his Hilltop residence several times in the past leading bipartisan delegations, noted theweek.in Jun 13.
The Reuters report said the lawmakers’ trip is likely to coincide with a separate visit to India by top Biden administration officials, including National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, who have sought to boost US-India ties amid Washington’s growing rivalry with Beijing.
Spokespersons for the US State Department and the White House National Security Council did not immediately respond when asked about Sullivan and Campbell’s trip and whether they planned to meet the Dalai Lama, or whether President Joe Biden or other US officials would meet him in the US, the report said.